Now, there are 2 types of expressions: emotional expressions and 'famous sayings' kind of expressions. After much deliberation I've decided to talk about the former.
So -emotional expressions. Emotional expressions can be written in many different ways like facial expressions, body language, emotive descriptive words. When used effectively, these can greatly improve the quality of your scene as you do more showing and less telling.
For example:
"I could see she was angry" is quite bland and basic telling. But alternatively
"Her body stiffened, her rage barely contained, " does a lot more telling with some description (refer to previous chapter for more on description) and is a lot more exciting to read.
Also, note the language I used in the second example. I changed angry for rage, they mean the same thing but the word rage has a lot more powerful and aggressive vibes to it. You can find a lot of alternative words on an online thesaurus but be careful, sometimes the words dont fit as nicely (if you ask nicely I'll put together a list and post them).
In the second example I also mentioned body language, which is an excellent way to add emotion. A persons body language tells you so much more about how they're feeling rather than words alone.
Some quick examples
Uncomfortable - hunched shoulders, shifting from foot to foot or in your seat, red ears/face, sputtering, eyes darting away
Angry - tensed body (particularly shoulders), red face, hands in fists, gritted teeth, possibly defensive stance (if threatened)
Upset - hunched shoulders, expresionless (if not crying), fidgeting, mumbling, slumped, dazed
Happy - relaxed posture, smiling, open posture
I could go on and on like this with each emotion. Notice the overlap in body language between some of the emotions, it gives a good idea on what kind of thought process you character will be having too.
I hope this helps and let me know if you want me to cover anymore emotions for you!!!
Love, Orange
PS its soooo good to be back
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The Writers Guide To Writing
Non-FictionThis is a guide filled with quick and easy tips and tricks to help better your writing and help you use wattpad effectively to bring attention to your story! feel free to give me suggestions for topics to write about or ask questions on any topics...
